A Professional Quidditch story
by james.wylie.guerra
Summary: After defeating Voldemort in the Graveyard, Harry decides to pursue a career as a seeker in the British Quidditch League.
1. Chapter 1

A/N

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not myself (which as I am posting under a fanfiction site should be obvious)**

 **This is my first published story, one I've been writing for awhile. Enjoy : ]**

* * *

"Kill the spare!

" _Avada Kedavra_!"

Harry saw a green light speed towards Cedric, and screamed out a warning for him to duck. Too late, Cedric realized what was happening only as the light stuck him in the chest, falling to the ground dead.

Enraged by seeing his fellow champions death, and with the incredible tolerance to pain built up from years of enduring the Dursleys abuse and countless injuries in the magical world, Harry ignored the growing pain from his scar and pointed his wand at the approaching figure that killed his friend.

" _Reducto_!"

Surprised that Harry had sent a curse at him, and encumbered by the disfigured monstrosity that was his master, Pettigrew was unable to block or dodge this basic spell. The spell struck Wormtail in the shoulder, tearing through flesh and bone, ripping his arm away from his body.

Despite the gory scene before him, Harry knew from his experience in the first task that he needed to keep calm until he was safely back at Hogwarts. He sent stunning spells at the writhing murderer and the abomination he was carrying, as despite his best friend Hermionie's complaints about his work ethic, Harry was still among the top of his year, and was by no means always a reckless idiot. He knew that if Wormtail was here, that the abomination was probably his master Lord Voldemort, and he was far likely better off being cautious.

In their first year, all students of Hogwarts have to attend an assembly where Auror's from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement inform those students that did not grow up in the Wizarding World, about what to do if they need help when away from school and need to contact the Aurors. While the trace, the mysterious spell that tracks underage magic, only works during the summer, the ministry sensors spread throughout the country are able to pick up a particular communication spell that immediately alerts the Aurors to an emergency at the Wizard or Witch's location. While the magical world and the Ministry for Magic was often devoid of logic, their law enforcement department was not completely incompetent, and this simple spell was taught to all first years before they were sent home for the summer.

Harry knew that this spell was only to be used in emergencies, and if being kidnapped, watching your peer be murdered and capturing a death eater as well as a dark lord in a mysterious graveyard was not an emergency, then nothing was. Casting the spell to summon help, Harry kept alert for any other Death Eaters that might be in the area.

Only a few minutes later Harry heard a series of pops not far from him, where five figures in crimson robes had appeared in a circle, wands pointing out.

"Aurors! Wands down!" bellowed a tall dark-skinned bald man with a large golden hoop earring.

Next to the tall man stood a young woman with violently violet hair and a cute heart shaped face, who stumbled on a gravestone just after appearing in the graveyard.

Harry, recognizing the robes they were wearing quickly pocketed his wand and raised his hands to show he was unarmed. The Aurors moved quickly to secure the area, with the tall Auror approaching Harry and the other casting spells at the three indisposed bodies in surrounding him.

"Identify yourself, and explain what you are doing outside of school young man", came a deep calm voice that instantly put Harry at ease.

"I am Harry Potter a fourth year Gryffindor at Hogwarts, I am one of the Triwizard Champions. During the third task when Cedric Diggory and I grabbed onto the cup as a part of the task we were brought here by a portkey. The man that's covered in blood is Peter Pettigrew, he was here waiting for us, but I don't think he was expecting there to be two champions. The baby like thing he was carrying told him to 'Kill the Spare' an-and he cast a killing curse at Cedric! I-There was nothing I could do! It was so fast! Cedric went down, so I cast a reductor curse at Pettigrew before he could attack me too. Then I stunned him and the thing he was carrying and sent for you guys.. I-I think the baby thing is Voldemort!" Harry babbled to the intimidating Auror, the terror of the situation finally penetrating his adrenalin.

The violet haired witch quickly approached the tall Auror to report that the other boy was dead and that like Harry had said it appeared that Pettigrew had killed him, as his wand had cast the Killing Curse. Casting some quick spells on the abomination Pettigrew was carrying, a black light surrounded it, which by the looks of fear that appeared on his face, could mean nothing good.

"Auror Tonks! Go to Director Bones and report that the missing champions have been found, and to send the DOM Dark Magic Squad immediately, this is a class 5 emergency with possible necromancy and a confirmed murder." Barked the tall Auror.

"Ye-yes sir!" Squeaked the Violet haired witch-Tonks as it seemed was her name, who then turned on the spot and disappeared with a loud crack.

Harry, after keeping alert throughout the third task and the horror afterwards, despite the Acromentula venom racing through his bloodstream, stumbled a bit and asked if he could see a healer to see to his injuries.

"Of course Mr. Potter, we should have done that immediately, you will have to be questioned again later but there is no reason we can't bring you to St. Mungos immediately. By the way my name is Auror Captain Kingsley Shacklebolt." He handed Harry a yellow length of rope, and explained that it was a portkey that would bring him to the secure unit at the magical hospital, where he would receive treatment. He would be remaining at the scene but would send one of his Aurors along with Harry to explain the situation to the Healers.

"Activate!"

Harry suddenly found himself in the middle of a hospital ward, presumably St. Mungos, where the Healer on duty forced him into a hospital bed and started sending spell after spell at him.

"We have a poisoning case! Looks like Acromentula! Get the anti-venom kit and a dreamless sleep potion! He needs rest, it looks like he is going into shock!"

The healer shoved the two potions down Harry's throat and he knew no more.

* * *

The next morning Harry woke to find himself tucked into a hospital bed, and found his leg completely healed. Looking around the ward he found that he was alone, and was rather thirsty. Reaching for the glass of water on the table next to him, Harry rehydrated and decided to wait until a healer came to check on him. He did not have to wait long, as almost as soon as he could finish his drink, a short dark haired witch, in blue Healer robes entered the ward and rushed over to his bed.

"Welcome to St. Mungos Mr. Potter, my name is Healer Abbot, how are you feeling this morning?"

Sitting up Harry looked at the Healer who was probably a relative of his classmate in Hufflepuff. "I feel pretty good, my leg feels much better"

"Of course it does, we did heal you after all" cheekily replied the blond Healer, "You are very lucky that you came in when you did, that Acromentula Venom could have caused serious damage if left untreated, now let me check you over before the Aurors come back and by the way congratulations on wining that tournament."

As the Healer waved her wand, no doubt casting all sorts of medical spells on him, Harry thought about what had happened in the maze and then that graveyard. Winning the tournament had never really seemed likely to him, as he was so much younger than the other champions and wasn't even at the top of his year like he knew Cedric was. Thinking of Cedric brought up conflicting thoughts, he was horrified that he was dead, and killed in front of him no less, but at the same time relieved that he had survived himself.

The healer finished casting her spells just as the two Aurors from before entered to question him about the events. They introduced themselves as Auror Captain Shacklebolt and Junior Auror Tonks, and had him walk through the third task and its aftermath. Both ensured him that he had performed admirably and that the Unspeakables would want to talk with him about how they had dealt with Voldemort. When Harry asked if the capture of Petigrew would be enough to get his godfather, Sirius, a trial, they ensured him that the DMLE would be looking into it and that they would do everything they could to ensure justice.

Immediately after the Aurors left, there was a quiet 'Pop!' directly in front of Harry's bed, where a tall person in androgynous, featureless grey robes, with a face hidden in shadows appeared.

"Good evening Mister Potter", drawled a bland unremarkable voice, "I am Unspeakable Cain, the head of the Department of Mysteries Dark Illegal Magic Research and Containment division. My department's purpose is to contain and destroy any threat to national security caused by illegal magic. Now while the details about the abomination you captured tonight are classified, we can inform you that the remains of Voldemort have been dealt with and will never again be a threat. The story we will be releasing to the press however will not mention the Dark Lord's involvement, rather it will be a simple case of a kidnapping by disgruntled and insane Death Eaters who wanted revenge for their master's defeat. It's for the best that we keep how Voldemort was able to cheat death to as few people as possible. Don't worry about any of that Mister Potter, it will be taken care of and you will of course be awarded an Order of Merlin for your valiant capture of the murderous criminal Peter Pettigrew. Good Day."

And with another 'Pop!' the unspeakable disappeared before Harry could even say a word.

* * *

After another round by the Healers, Harry was finally discharged from the hospital and allowed to floo to the Hogwarts hospital wing and the tender mercy of Madam Pomprey. Needless to say he was instantly forced right back into a hospital bed and subjected to yet another round of prodding and poking from a Healer before being force fed a rather nasty potion and once again passing out.

After a strange dream involving a pair of boots, three sandwiches and a very cranky ostrich, Harry groggily opened his eyes to find the customary pile of sweets and a toilet seat at the foot of his bed. With a nostalgic grin he turned to face the Headmaster, who, just as in his first year, was seated beside his bed staring down on him with twinkling eyes.

Dressed in a blindingly bright lime green robe, covered in Silver and Gold crescent moons, the Headmaster looked down at Harry with twinkling eyes. A seasoned politician, Dumbledore was well aware that letting Harry know that not only did he suspect that he was going to be kidnapped by Tom, but that he had thought Harry would have to willingly sacrifice himself to Tom for the Greater Good, would sour his only illustrious reputation harming his ability to manip- er guide his world. Never let it be known however that he, Albus Dumbledore, was not a resourceful man, and what better way to maintain his reputation and power then to deny having any knowledge of the situation, twinkle his eyes a bit and ensure that there was something else to distract his constituents. He knew that Harry was the future of the world, a hero to the people and soon to be fellow winner of the Order of Merlin. To maintain his influence into the coming century, even after his own passing on to the next great adventure, he would need to ensure Harry continued to look up to him and eventually follow in his footsteps. So a distraction was in order, and nothing was a better distraction to a young lad than Quidditch. Not only would Quidditch keep Harry happy and on his good side, but it would increase his popularity and resources for use in the future as the next leader of the light. Nothing is better than having your lemon drop and eating it too!

"Harry my boy, I am so sorry you put into such a situation, the unspeakables explained everything, I had no idea this whole thing was a trap. You preformed marvelously of course, you should be so proud of your actions, you surely saved so many lives. Of course the elimination of the threat of Voldemort changes everything for you my boy. Without Tom the Blood Wards around your relative's house are no longer necessary for your safety and there is no need to stay there over the summer. Coincidentally I recently received an invitation for you from the British Quidditch League to declare your eligibility as a professional. As you may know now that you will be 15 before the next season starts you are eligible to play professionally, and there has been a good deal of interest in you my boy, including from the national team. We haven't had a good seeker in nearly a century. If I may be so bold my boy I think this is an excellent opportunity for you to broaden your community involvement and have a good time, not to mention earn enough money to buy a place to live, after all as I understand it the Potter's properties were all destroyed in the war. It wouldn't do after all to have to empty your vaults to rebuild everything leaving your future family with nothing, not to mention that you are unable to use funds from the family vault and for that matter your seat on the Wizengamot before you are of age."

Shocked by this development, and overwhelmed by all this information about his family. Vaults? Seats? Homes?! Harry sputtered,

"P-Professor, why is this the first I have heard about any of this?! I didn't know my family was that well off, although now that I think of it I should have guessed that at least the home in Godric's Hollow was mine."

"Alas, I thought you already knew, as it is the Goblins responsibility to look after your estate. I can only guess that they decided to keep you ignorant until you have access to those assets. I know this is a lot to think about Harry, but if you decide to play Quidditch I am sure a good agent can include the use of an apartment as part of your contract, which would allow you to save up enough to at least repair Potter Mannor in Rowen Hill, where your family has traditionally lived. I would talk to the goblins about contracting someone to rebuild your home if that is something that interests you. As for an agent, consider talking to my good friend Queenie Greengrass. She is the Aunt of one of your classmates and represents a number of our former students including Mr. Wood who as you know signed with Puddlemore United last year. I'l owl her for you to get things rolling."

Getting up, and walking towards the door, Dumbledore left him with some parting words, "In case you were wondering Harry, I am a Chudley fan, after all their wonderful color scheme is right up my ally. "

Chuckling to himself Harry thought over the conversation he just had with the headmaster. While Harry would be the first to admit he wasn't nearly as intelligent as his bushy haired best friend, he was still rather clever, and had plenty of experience from his Uncle in how to distract people from something by overloading them with information. Despite Dumbledore's obvious tactics, the idea of no more Dursleys and playing Quidditch professionally, not to mention rebuilding his family home was a worthy distraction in his mind, and more than enough for him to not dig into whatever Dumbledore was trying to hide. While he knew Sirius would hopefully be free soon, he would much rather be on his own, as he didn't really know Padfoot all that well, and there was little he wouldn't do to get away from his relatives.

Harry heard a loud bang as the door to the infirmary swung open and a bushy haired blur rushed over to his bed, immediately assaulting him with a hug.

"Oh Harry I was so worried. You were doing so well in the maze and then you grabbed the cup and no one could find you! Then Professor Moody was arrested and found to be someone else using Polyjuice and then Aurors were everywhere and they rushed us all back into our dormitories and I was so worried and you still weren't back and I just knew you'd wind up hurt again! They told us Cedric was dead and I was terrified! Honestly Harry, you always get hurt you can't keep doing this to me." Hermione rapidly sputtered, despite being his best friend for 4 years now it still surprised Harry just how quick she could talk when excited about something.

"Shh Hermione I'm fine, really. Everything is going to be ok, nothing like this will ever happen to me again."

Harry went on to tell Hermione everything that had happened, the Maze, the Graveyard, the Hospital and what Dumbledore had told him.

"I just don't know Hermione, if I were to play professionally I could make a good living, meet a lot of people and travel a good deal. I'm worried though about how I would keep in touch with you, I know it would be hard to go to Hogwarts and still play, Krum seemed to struggle a bit with that this year and next year is OWLs. I could always get tutors I guess, that might even be better really. Before Hogwarts started I was so excited about potions and then Snape crushed that interest with his petty taunts about my dad. We both spend most of our time in class fooling around anyway as we have to wait for everyone else to get a spell down before we move on, which slows down our learning significantly."

"That's true Harry, but one of the reasons Hogwarts graduates tend to get the best positions is due to Hogwarts reputation. While your name would probably make up for not having a diploma from Hogwarts, it certainly wouldn't hurt. Hogwarts has the best professors, and access to one of the best libraries in the world, and that's hard to beat and it would ensure that you have time away from Quidditch to relax with friends."

After Hermione was chased out of the hospital wing by an angry Madam Pomfrey, Harry came to the decision to stay a student at Hogwarts. Even if he could make a career as an athlete he still wanted to complete his education like his parents did, maybe even become head boy. Plus Hogwarts was his first home, and regardless of what came next in his life, Hogwarts would always remain a place of comfort for him.

* * *

 **The next day.**

Dressed in his finest robes, leftover from the yule ball months earlier, Harry found himself anxiously waiting for Queenie Greengrass to arrive for their first meeting, set up by the headmaster. Dumbledore had graciously allowed Harry to use the staff meeting room, a private area where he would not be disturbed or overheard by the ever prying ears of the Hogwarts students.

The door opened to show a tall middle aged women with pitch black hair, brown eyes and aristocratic cheekbones, wearing a knee length blue dress.

"Good afternoon Mr. Potter, my name is Queenie Greengrass. I am a partner at the firm Greengrass & Davis which provides a number of legal services, including dealing with the press and the goblins. My own specialty is in sports law, and I represent many clients in the British Quidditch League. If you agree to hire my firm to represent you, we will go over your options for the upcoming offseason. Our rates are rather reasonable and our client's confidentiality is assured by a magical contract, even if in the future you decide to move to another representative. For the first meeting here you will be charged one galleon, just to get things started legally and all your preliminary paperwork and contracts will be charged at a 2 galleon per hour basis. Now once you are signed by a team, and for any endorsements you sign, our rates are a 10% commission on any money paid. Now this may seem high, but this rate gives you complete coverage by our legal teams and publicists at a low, 5 galleons per hour rate. "

Thinking over the rates discussed, Harry quickly agreed, as given the nonsense with the daily prophet this year and how little he knew about the legal system in the Wizarding World having a team of professionals looking after his best interest would be worth the fees.

"I think I can agree to that Ms. Greengrass, I assume you have a contract already drawn up?"

After signing a contract and authorizing the firm to withdraw their fees from his trust vault, his new agent began to explain the process to him of how to declare his eligibility and their plan for getting signed for the upcoming season.

"Now as you are aware, the British League has invited you to their camp this summer. This is crucial for all hopefuls to display their talent to the scouts. All of the British teams will send their top scouts and the national team coach will be there as well. Now Hogwarts isn't particularly known for developing seekers, but your talent is rather well known. Let's start with the national team as I know for a fact that their new coach, Manfield White, is a huge fan of yours. He watches all of the Hogwarts games and played with your father when they won the cup back when they were at Hogwarts. The next world cup isn't for another 3 years, and Britain hasn't had a good showing so far. Their current seeker is mediocre at best and I think it is extremely likely that you will be offered a spot on the team. You won't be their starter right away, but they are planning for the future and White thinks you are going to be a star."

"Our real focus however will be the club teams, that's where the big money is and where you will have to make the best impression. The British League is the premiere league in the world and will offer you the best opportunity, given your built in popularity here especially with your recent victory in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The Falcons, Catapults, Bats and Arrows are all looking for seekers. The rest will still have an eye on you and may even tender an offer, but these teams are all desperate and will likely offer a starting position if you impress them enough. Despite your inexperience they will want you to get as much experience as quickly as possible to maximize your potential. However to do any of that you must have a strong camp so that will be our focus for the next month. We have until August to get you into top shape."

"So first things first, I'm going to have our team look into apartments in London near a private Gym that we send our clients to before they have access to a team gym. We will set you up with a personal trainer who will work with you for the next month, and we will find a seekers coach who will help train you up to professional standards. It's a bit of an investment but I think they will give you the best shot to get a starting position on a competitive team. It certainly won't cost more than 200 galleons. I will personally meet you at King's Cross to take you to your temporary apartment and we will discuss what comes next then. Do you have any questions?"

Harry sat absorbing all the information thrown his way, impressed by the professionalism of his new agent and excited for his future for the first time in years. Working with a coach sounded like a brilliant idea and wasn't something he ever would have thought of. While he often had problems accepting praise for his accomplishments, Quidditch was something he took a great deal of pride and joy in. As much as he loved playing at Hogwarts, he knew that becoming a professional would be a thousand times better, and a good deal more work.

"My only question is how we are going to handle my schedule during the school year? I would like to continue being a student here at Hogwarts as well as my duties for whatever team I sign with."

"Ah that is actually rather straight forward. As you know you aren't the only teen to play while still in school, so there is a procedure for that. Most teams play one game a week during the season, with national team games coming during off weeks and the off season. Given how long games can go they are usually scheduled for Saturdays, with practices Monday through Thursday. Players are expected to work out on their own time, and attend all team practices. To accommodate student athletes the league has a set system where you will floo from Hogwarts to your team's facilities in the morning for your workout and practice before going to the league office where they will send you back in time in order to sleep then attend your classes. It will be annoying to essentially live through each twice, but it will allow you to meet all your responsibilities."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not myself (which as I am posting under a fanfiction site should be obvious)**

 **Apologies this took so long, I really struggled with the scene with Ron. To me at this point in his life Ron is very prone to jealousy, and having your best friend be so successful at what you dream to be would be frustrating. I am trying not to bash, while not my favorite character Ron isn't an evil git in my reading of canon, just immature at times. So let me know how that came off. He wont be back in this story for awhile, but for those Ron fans out there this isn't the last you have heard from him either.**

 **Thanks for the reviews so far! As for those of you wondering about pairings... I haven't made any decisions. It likely wont be Ginny as I find that pairing boring to be honest. In all likelihood Harry will act naturally as a teenager. He will date, meet people and fall in and out of love. Will he find his OTP? Maybe. This isn't a romance story, my main interest is in exploring magical sports culture and what a professional Quidditch league might look like from the preservative of a player, but who knows what will happen as we develop the story.**

 **Enjoy. : ]**

* * *

Harry left the staff room and made his way towards the Gryffindor common room. His new agent had dropped a good deal of information on him in a short period of time. He had always thought of Wood's training the last three years as obsessive and even a bit overkill. Now it seemed like that was only a small warm-up in comparison to his upcoming preparations for the scouting camp, which he would have to continue if he was signed by a team. Despite the hard work he knew he would have to put in to meet his agent's expectations, Harry was looking forward to everything. A summer not only on his own away from the Dursley's, but spent training for the sport he had grown to love while at Hogwarts. Images of him winning the World Cup for Britain entered his mind, catching the Snitch before thousands of screaming fans…

His day dreams were interrupted by a familiar group of chasers waiting for him in the hallway.

"Harry! There you are, what's this we've been hearing about you playing professional Quidditch? Surely you wouldn't abandon the Gryffindor team when I've finally been made captain!?" Whined the most imposing of the trio, the eldest remaining member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team Angelina Johnson.

"Angie! There's nothing wrong with Harry deciding to go pro before leaving Hogwarts, I thought we were here to congratulate him!" Chastised the pretty blonde, Katie Bell.

"Congratulations Harry! The league rarely invites students from Hogwarts before they graduate, but given how good of a seeker you are it was just a matter of time before you caught their eye! I'm sure you'll be fantastic!" Gushed Alicia Spinnet, with a wide smile on her face.

Taken back by the confrontation, Harry simply smiled and thanked the two younger chasers for their congratulations and sent an apologetic look towards Angelina.

"I really loved playing with you girls and for Gryffindor, but this is really a great opportunity for me to get better. To be honest even last year I never found myself challenged at Hogwarts, plus we only play a few games a year so there are hardly any opportunities to really push myself."

"Ugh I know Harry" sighed Angelina, "and I am really happy for you, I guess I was just banking in my plans that I'd have a fantastic seeker to secure us the cup. I will definitely be rooting for you though, it's a shame you can't make the Harpies, with you as their seeker they'd be unstoppable!"

Laughing, Harry waved the trio off and continued on towards the common room. While playing professionally would certainly be more exciting and rewarding, he would miss his first Quidditch team. Wood the dominating keeper and obsessive coach. The three chasers who were always kind to him and were capable of lighting up the score boards with their incredible team work. The twins who always made him laugh after a tough practice, and were notoriously vicious in protecting their teammates on the pitch. The team was like a family in some ways, and that closeness between teammates was one of his favorite parts of playing Quidditch. While he suspected that his professional team would be just as, if not even closer knit, he would still always remember his first team with a sense of fondness.

* * *

Déjà vu struck Harry as he walked into the 4th year's dorm to find Ron Weasley, his best male friend, glaring at him.

"I guess winning the tournament wasn't enough fame and fortune for you! Just have to get even more by playing professional Quidditch. It's just not fair! You never even heard of Quidditch before you met me! You know it's been my dream to play Quidditch, why is it always you who gets everything!" Ron Bellowed.

Remembering Ron's jealousy issues throughout the year; with the Goblet in October and again, unless Harry was misreading the situation, with Hermione at the Yule Ball, he decided to try and end this conversation quickly and let things calm down between them during the summer.

"Ron you know that I had nothing to do with the bloody tournament, the whole thing was a plot by Voldemort in order to kidnap me! If it wasn't for a good deal of luck I probably would have died a million times this year. I've worked my ass off practicing and playing Quidditch these last few years, if this is your 'dream to play Quidditch' then maybe you should actually join the team and play. I worked for this opportunity and if you were really a decent friend you'd be happy for me not just a jealous berk. Think hard this summer about the kind of friend you've been to me this year Ron and maybe if you grow up we can start over next year." Harry heatedly replied.

While not as calm as he had hoped, he still managed to diffuse the situation a bit without coming to blows with his fair-weather friend. Turning around and heading back down the stairs, Harry considered the situation with the Weasley family. The twins had found him this morning before his meeting to congratulate him on his opportunity, and talk to him about the possibility of investing in their prank business. He had told them at the time that he would consider it, and while he had originally thought about simply giving them his Triwizard winnings, after talking to his agent about the potential value of endorsements he was more conscious of money. While he knew he had a decent sum in his vault, and likely a good deal more on the way, Harry didn't want to simply give all his money away. Perhaps he could discuss investing in exchange for a share in the future company? He did have an agent now to deal with this sort of thing, he should talk to her about what kind of investments were sound and get back to the twins at a later time. Yes, Harry thought that sounded like a good idea. He should go write a letter about this now before he forgot.

* * *

As the Hogwarts express pulled into King's Cross station, Harry was practically shivering with excitement. For the first time he was actually looking forward to summer break! Just like the vast majority of his peers. After giving a goodbye hug to Hermione and gathering his school trunk and owl, he set off towards the area where he saw his agent, Ms. Greengrass, standing with a pair of adults: a slightly grey and brown haired man who looked to be in his late thirties, and a Blonde haired woman with blue eyes who looked remarkably like a Slytherin girl in his year, Daphne Greengrass.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Greengrass thank you for picking me up"

"Hello Harry, it's good to see you again. This is my brother Matthias and his wife Isabella, they are here to pick up their eldest daughter Daphne who is in your year and Astoria who is in the year below you. We best be off, so much to do today. Give my best to my nieces Isabella, I'l stop by later on tonight for tea."

His agent waved her wand, shrinking and pocketing his trunk, before grabbing his arm and turning on the spot with a crack! Harry felt himself be squeezed from all directions and sucked through what felt like a straw. Just when the weird sensation was starting to overwhelm him it ended with a crack. Opening his eyes he found himself standing with Queenie in Diagon Alley right in front of the entrance from the leaky cauldron.

"Come along Harry, first I want to show you to your flat. You have it rented out until September, it comes furnished for basic needs though you might want to pick up some food if you are capable of cooking. It's in muggle London, I know you grew up in the muggle world so hopefully you will be able to avoid standing out, the landlord believes you are a student athlete in town to train at a local gym in order to compete for a spot on a professional club, which is the truth really just without the magic."

Following his agent through the Leaky Cauldron and into Charing Cross Road, they stopped by a 8 story red brick building less than 3 blocks away from the famous pub.

"Your studio is on the fourth floor Harry, its small, only 325 square foot with a bathroom and small stove top but for the summer it should be more than enough."

Harry was unimpressed by the studio, but anything was better than the Dursely's house and he didn't forget the years he spent in the cupboard under the stairs. After dropping off his trunk, they made their way to the gym to meet up with Harry's new trainer. The gym, The Olympic club, was less than a block away from his apartment.

Meeting them in the front of the gym was a bulky middle aged man, with blond hair and a wide welcoming smile on his face.

"Hello Queenie this must be my newest client. Welcome to The Olympic Gym Mr. Potter, don't worry about hiding your magic from me I am also a Wizard though our clientele included muggles so we ask that you refrain from using any magic in the public areas. Why don't you come into my office and we can go over the schedule I have set up for you and I can introduce you to the seeker's coach that Queenie set up for you when he gets here in a bit."

"Before you two get started, I have to run. Harry let me know if you have any questions, I will check in on you in a week or so to start preparing you for the press conference and what you will need to do before the camp in August" Queenie said.

After exchanging goodbyes, Harry followed his trainer into a room off to the side and took a seat besides the older man.

"So, my name is Edward Everstone, and as I said before I am also a Wizard. I didn't go to Hogwarts like you however, I went to the Welsh Academy of Spells and Sorcery, before continuing my education in the muggle world and getting my certification to become a trainer. I am not a trained healer, but I do have certification from the Ministry of Magic's department of health to prescribe a variety of potions to assist in your training regime. Queenie told me about your plans to go to the Quidditch camp in August when she hired me, so I looked up some recordings of a few of your games at Hogwarts and worked with your seekers coach Livius Mostafa to develop this plan." Edward handed Harry a piece of paper with a schedule printed on it. "We need to capitalize on every bit of time we have, so every day until the camp will be packed with as much training as we can fit. We left you a bit of off time on weekends to decompress and meet friends or do homework, but for the most part this plan will require your entire attention."

Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday

8 – 11 am cardio with Edward

11 – 11:30 am Lunch (Provided by gym)

12 – 2 pm Quidditch film and Technique training with Livius

2- 5 pm flying and Quidditch practice with Livius

5-6:30 pm Strength Training with Edward

6:30 -7 pm dinner (Provided by gym)

Wednesday

8am – 11am cardio with Edward

11 – 11:30 pm Lunch (Provided by gym)

12 – 5 pm seeker drills with Livius

5-7 pm Quidditch film with Livius

7 pm Dinner

Saturday

8am – 11am cardio at gym

Sunday

8am – 11am Yoga at gym

1-2:30 pm Boxing at gym

"Now as you can see most days you have the same schedule set, although both Livius and myself will be changing up what you are doing everyday when we have you. On Wednesdays you do seeker drills which are intense flying sprints through an obstacle course that the English Quidditch League owns and rents out to independent seekers like you who are looking to break into professional Quidditch. Don't worry it's not costing you a fortune or anything its simply good practice as during you other sessions with Livius there won't be all the other players on the pitch with you.

"One of the most important skills for a Quidditch player, especially seekers, is being able to fly through the hazards of the field. Livius will go over more of what he will be doing with you when he gets here. Every day after we do our cardio workout and eat you will use our floo to get to Livius's house where he will show you film of professional Quidditch games and the techniques used, before using his pitch to practice. Our training will get you fit and strong to be able to hold your own against the older players you will be up against during as well focusing on increasing your endurance and flexibility. I am off on weekends, but the gym is still open so I expect you to come in and join in two of our classes that I think will be most helpful. Yoga will help you with flexibility and boxing with your reflexes, both crucial for higher level seekers."

"Lastly we have catered lunches and dinners during the week which will be full of the proteins and vitamins you will need to build up he muscles we are working towards, and this will be when we give you the potions I have picked out to maximize the effects of your training. Potions for muscle repair and rebuilding, nutrition potions and a potion that should help correct your eyesight over time. So any questions or would you like a tour while we wait for Livius, he should be here in about ten minutes I think?

The pair walked around the gym, Edward introducing Harry to some of the other trainers and regular clients. The schedule excited Harry. It truly hit him that he was going to be preparing with the best of his ability to become an elite seeker. A true professional athlete and all that entailed. Hard work and dedication to perfecting his art. Ever since he had entered the Wizarding world he had been famous for things he either didn't remember or didn't want to be a part of. This however was something he was going to work hard for and which most importantly he had _chosen_ to do.

After finally meeting with Livius, who had been a professional seeker for the Wimbourne Wasps back when Bagman was a beater, Livius and Harry left the gym to go to Quality Quidditch supply in Diagon Alley to pick up some equipment for Harry's training. While they would be using the pitch at Livius' house, he insisted on Harry using his own set of Quidditch balls, as well as purchase a collection of different training snitches, with a variety of speed patterns, for their use. The professional leagues used a slightly faster snitch than was used at Hogwarts, and for training they would occasionally use an even faster and more evasive version to increase Harry's skill.

They also bought Harry a new set of pads and gloves for use in his training and in the camp. The professional game was a lot rougher than was allowed in school, and with his small frame his opponents would be sure to target him.

Exhausted after a long day of traveling and meeting new people, Harry walked back to his apartment and set an alarm for the next morning before falling asleep, dreaming of thunderous crowds and Golden Snitches.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter should be up within the next few weeks. I hope to get onto a bi-monthly posting pattern (at the least).**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not myself (which as I am posting under a fanfiction site should be obvious)**

 **Thanks for the wonderful reviews! I am glad so many of you enjoy this story, there really is a lack of Quidditch fic's out there and I hope this satisfies that niche for some people. One of my goals in this story is to have Harry try to balance his position in the magical world with his heritage in the muggle world. I think this chapter, in part, shows how difficult doing this would be for a young teen, especially one as socially inept as Harry.**

 **Enjoy. : ]**

* * *

"Faster Potter! You have to commit completely to the feint, otherwise it'll be obvious to everyone on the pitch that it's fake! A Wronski Feint is all about capitalizing on an overaggressive opponent. You need them to follow your movements and be certain that you are going all out. A failed feint is worse than useless!" screamed Harry's seekers coach Livius Mostafa.

"Yes coach!" huffed Harry, drenched in sweat and exhausted from another long day of working at his gym and flying for hours under the tutelage of Mostafa. It was now mid-July, and after 3 weeks of following his intense training schedule he was already starting to notice a difference in his body. His endurance was improving the most, between the daily cardio and daily workouts, not to mention a healthy nutritious diet, he was improving his health by leaps and bounds. This translated well onto the pitch, where his improved endurance showed itself in his weathering of the intense practices. After his first practice he could barely stand, now flying only made him tired and sore all over.

Weeks of working on his flying and techniques with a real Seeker's coach made a drastic improvement on his skills. While his Gryffindor Quidditch captain Wood was an excellent Keeper, he was not an expert at all positions on the field. Most of his skills were learned from Quidditch magazines and from watching his opponents at Hogwarts. Working with a professional and watching countless hours of the professional game had allowed him to work towards perfecting his techniques, cutting off any excess movements and increasing his decision making speed. Every second counted when chasing a snitch and any wrong moves would open up the chase for his opponent.

"Aye Potter, we only have a few more weeks before your camp and the scouts will be looking for these little tells. Your good lad, probably better than any other rookie will be, but you will need to get even better to keep up with the veterans if you want to be your teams starting seeker. Your searching patterns are adequate and you have an eye for finding the snitch which rivals any I've seen, but you get by with mainly natural talent and a fast broom when it comes to the chase itself. That might have been enough at Hogwarts, but everyone in the League has talent and rides quality brooms, keep working on perfecting your flying skills or they will leave you in the dust.

"It's not all about speed lad, but evasiveness from Bludgers and awareness of obstacles on the pitch. The strength to fight off opponents and smarts to make quick tactical decisions. If you really want to catch the eyes of the better teams being able to play defense from opposing chasers is a huge bonus in their eyes. It's not a commonly used tactic, as most teams would rather have their seeker focus on seeking, but it's an advantage for coaches when looking at seekers for when their team might need to stop Quaffles more than the snitch. Remember the game is all about scoring more points than the opponent, and having more points than the rest of the league on the table. Wins are important, but so are points, so coaches like to see a seeker who is useful in many different situations and can change their tactics in a pinch."

The next hour was spent practicing the defensive chaser positions as well as some of the offensive ones. While as a seeker he would only occasionally be in a situation where he could pass or block a Quaffle, and rarely in one where he would shoot, being prepared for those rare opportunities was crucial for showing his worth to the scouts. A great seeker was able to effect the whole game, not only chasing the snitch, but interrupting the opponent's chasers, distracting the beaters to open up plays and capturing the attention of the opposing seeker so he or she could not do the same to his teammates.

When his final hour with Mostafa finally ended, Harry made his exhausted way back to gym where his trainer Everstone was waiting for him for their typical Friday lifting routine. While seekers didn't need to be as strong and bulky as Beaters, strength was still an important aspect of his training and Harry made sure to give it his all.

Harry kept his eyes on the clock throughout his workout, as today was a day he had been looking forward to all week. While his first few weeks at the gym he had mostly kept to himself, on Tuesday some of the other clients his age had asked him to join them on Friday night to hang out in the city. He had learned while chatting with them during their meals that many of the other members of the gym were muggle Athletes. Some were working towards playing a sport in University, or already were members of University teams. Two girls he had met in particular stuck out in his mind, as they were working towards making the next Olympics in their respective sports. One, Annabel rowed Double Scull though her partner went to a different gym. The other Libby, was trying to make the Team Foil Fencing event. Both were trying to make the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta over in the States. They were going to meet up with Harry in a few hours outside the gym along with a few of their friends. He invited Hermione to join him and was very much looking forward to seeing his best friend again.

Walking back towards the gym after a quick shower at his apartment and changing into some of the new clothes he had picked up over the last few weeks, Harry saw Hermione waiting for him outside his apartment building along with her father.

"Hey Hermione, Mr. Granger, it's good to see you again" Harry said as his bushy haired best friend run over to him and gave him a hug.

"Yes it's been since before Hermione's second year since we have seen each other" replied Hermione's father as he shook Harry's hand. "I was so happy when I heard that you and Hermione were going to meet up and spend time together in the normal world, it seems like the longer Hermione has been going to that school she's been drifting apart from her heritage in our world and spending more and more time focusing on magic."

"It has been the same for me sir, I don't get along with my muggle relatives and don't have any normal friends so I have been distancing myself from the muggle world. I hasn't been since I started off on my own here that I realized that I missed many aspects of that world and in many ways I am still more comfortable there, where no-body recognizes me" agreed Harry.

"Anyway I must be off to pick up some things, you two stay safe and Hermione feel free to stay over with Harry tonight if you end up out late, I would rather you stay at his place than risk getting into trouble at night. Take care of my little girl Harry, and no funny business you two, I am far too young for grandchildren!" said Mr. Granger with a smirk.

With cheeks as red as a tomato, Hermione hugged her father goodbye and the two teens chatted about their summers so far as they walked towards the gym. Harry was unsurprised to hear that his friend had already finished her summer homework, ("Honestly Harry you shouldn't leave everything until the last minute"), and the two had discussed some of the things he had been doing in practice.

"I'm glad you found something you are so passionate about Harry" Hermione said, "I know how rare it is for people our age to find the thing they want to do for the rest of their life. At least one of us has a plan. I still have no idea what I want to do. I really want to try and take S.P.E.W. further.."

Arriving at the gym and introducing Hermione to Annabel and Libby and the other teens, the group made their way to a local karaoke club and spent the night like normal people their age. Despite being rather socially awkward due to their being bullied while they were young, both Harry and Hermione greatly enjoyed the opportunity to hang out with other people their age in the Muggle world. For Harry the chance to be seen by others as just a normal kid was a balm to his soul after years of being the hated freak of the Dursley's hatred or the famous boy-who-lived celebrity at school and in the magical world. He even hit it off with one of Libby's friends, Abby who was also trying to become a professional athlete, the women's football national team in her case. While he obviously couldn't tell people he played a magical sport on broomsticks, they gym's cover for him to tell their muggle patrons was that he was a baseball player, as few British Muggles were familiar enough with the sport and they had similar workout requirements.

The two chatted about the rigors of their respective training and about their hopes of catching a scout's eye. Harry was pleased to talk to someone who had the kind of passion he had for Quidditch and the constant chase for perfection at their sport. It bothered him however that he had to lie about the sport he loved and pretend to be something he wasn't. He figured this was the reason so many muggleborn witches and wizards he knew of wound up staying in the Wizarding World more and more and eventually leaving the Muggle world behind. Keeping such a large portion of your life a secret made making connections difficult.

Despite the difficulties in connecting with his new friends, Harry enjoyed the break from constant training and was glad that he had invited Hermione who had also enjoyed the outing.

* * *

The next morning, after coming home late and crashing on his couch, leaving his bed for Hermione, Harry left a note for his friend that he would be back by noon with takeout for them and that she was welcome to make herself at home before making his way to the gym for his Saturday routine. He had talked with Hermione the night before about his plans for the day and she had expressed interest in joining him when he met with his agent today to talk about his upcoming press release and the possibilities of a press conference with reporters to announce his candidacy as a professional player. Given their bad experiences with the press the year before with Rita Skeeter and the Daily Prophet, Hermione was interested in seeing if the rest of the press was as incompetent and vile or if they had merely had a bad experience.

After working out Harry decided to indulge himself and buy the fish and chips he had been eyeing at a street-cart across the street from his apartment. The two enjoyed the greasy goodness before making their way to the Leaky Cauldron to floo to the address Greengrass & Davis Legal Services.

Once again Harry's bad experiences with magical travel continued as he found himself propelled out of the floo landing hard on the wood floor. Hearing laughing from in front of him, Harry stood up to see a hysterical Hermione standing next to a grinning Queenie Greengrass, both obviously amused by his entrance.

"Well Mr. Potter, as long as we can keep the scouts away from you when you floo I think we have a chance to convince them of your worth" Harry's agent said. "I've been hearing good things about you from Livius and Edward, they think you are a major talent and expect you to be the star attraction at the upcoming camp. With how marketable you are given your built in fame and you raw skill and youth, I think we can expect a great deal of interest from the major clubs, as I told you when we first met. Already rumors have been flying about your entrance into the professional ranks, with articles speculating your value, skill and when you might end up in at least three major magical sports periodicals, including _Quidditch Weekly_ and the major American publication _Magical Sports Illustrated._ That's a big deal for us, as the public interest in your story makes you more valuable for teams, and ensures that scouts will be keeping an eye on you at this camp. Expect to see some American scouts as well trying to draw us over to the other side of the pond. I still think you will wind up getting more interest here in the British League, but the competition can only help us."

"I don't think I want to join a yank team, it would make going to Hogwarts very difficult given the time differences and I don't think the leagues over there are that strong right? I mean they have that other weird sport Quodpot that's rather popular from what I remember. I do understand what you mean, competition only makes me more valuable as they compete to attract me, but I would prefer staying in the British League" Harry responded. "Should I be getting subscriptions to any of those magazines? I guess I should probably read my own press right?"

"Yes you should probably take out a subscription to the major ones at least, and our press agents will start forwarding you any articles they think you need to know about the League or about yourself. You need to be prepared for the press when they ask you questions about articles they or other reporters have written. Now our press team have written up a basic declaration of eligibility for the professional leagues that will be released to the press, just outlining your goals of joining a team and playing seeker as well as your interest in playing for England. That by the way is all but a certainty, I have already been getting letters from Coach White asking for confirmation about your eligibility. They really are desperate for a new young seeker to start training up for the next world cup. We can't work out the contract until after the camp, so it isn't official but I would bet we get the offer within hours of the camp ending."

"That's fantastic!" Harry replied with a wide smile on his face. He knew that it was a possibility that he would be offered a position on the national team, but to have it all but guaranteed before he even fly for the coach was incredible.

"Indeed. Now I see you brought your friend like you said you might in your last letter, so I think we will do a practice run of a press conference. The press release will go out on Monday, and we will likely schedule your press conference for next Saturday. That gives them two weeks before the camp to print speculation and drum up anticipation for your debut. Now the conference itself will be in the English Quidditch League complex, they allow upcoming players attending their camp to address the media from there as advertising for their league since all the pictures of your conference will have their logo and sponsors all over it. There will likely be about 10 or so reporters, most of which will be submitting their stories to multiple new outlets.

"While only the super wealthy here in Britain have accesses to magical display screens where they can watch the English Quidditch games live, they are more popular and easily available in America and across parts of Europe and the English League is still considered among the best so it has high viewership. This means there is massive interest in covering the league and the major players. Despite the interest from foreign leagues most of the media speculation assumes you will be playing for a club in our local league.

"Anyway, to practice for your press conference your friend and I will be the obnoxious reporters screaming questions at you while you act the confident, calm athlete enthusiastic about going pro."

"Harry Harry! What do you say about the rumors that you are…"

* * *

After spending the afternoon practicing answering questions and dealing with the press, Harry walked Hermione to King's Cross Station to see her off and returning to his apartment before night fell. He was surprised to see a letter waiting for him on his dining table and quickly opened it and read its contents.

 _Dear Mr. Potter,_

 _We, the Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, are informing you of an upcoming trial on Tuesday, August 22_ _nd_ _in which you have been named as a witness for the defense of one Sirius Orion Black. The Decree for the Reasonable Expectation of Justice, 1873 Paragraph 6 subsection 2 requires those named as a Witness for the defense to attend when summoned. Failure to do so may result in charges and or fines levied against your persons. If for any reason you are held against your will and prevented from attending the trial your kidnappers will be fined an appropriate amount._

 _The ministry can be located at 55 Whitehall London, accessible through a small red muggle box containing a number of buttons with numbers on it. To enter the building press the numbers 62442. Charms on the box will prevent muggles from seeing you once inside. We are also accessible by floo at the address Ministry of Magic._

 _Enjoy your holidays,_

 _Yours Sincerely_

 _Alice Fawley,_

 _Secretary to the Chief Prosecutor, Justice Department branch of the Ministry of Magic Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic_

With a wide grin on his face that his godfather would finally get the trial he deserved, Harry wrote a quick letter asking Sirius if he was informed about the trial and asking what he knew about the justice system in Magical Britain. Even though Harry was happy with his new-found independence, he still would like to be able to see his godfather in public and have someone to visit on holidays.

* * *

The next week of training was even more intense than the ones preceding it, as his coaches knew time before the camp was running short. They knew that the more prepared Harry was, the better his chances were in getting a quality spot on a decent club. The last thing anyone wanted was for Harry to get stuck in a long term contract with a bad team and waste his youth and talent playing in meaningless games.

His press conference was a hit, unlike his previous experiences with the media no one tried to force him into a broom cupboard and the articles that came out were generally positive in their assessment of both his skills and in his discussions with reporters. As predicted there were about 10 reporters present and questions focused on his thoughts on becoming the youngest seeker in the British League and other Quidditch related matters.

Luckily for Harry the reports invited were all sports reporters who were less interested in the gossip so popular from other media outlets. Speculation in the British magazine _Quidditch Weekly_ , had him being the favorite for rookie seeker of the year, as well as raving reviews of his demeanor and determination to be the best seeker in the world. Quite a change from his bouts of insanity as reported by the _Daily Prophet_ during the TriWizard Tournament.

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 **Hope this chapter was enjoyable. I tried to show how Harry is trying to develop a healthy social life, and I think that spending time over the summer with his friends and peers is an important part of his development into a healthier person. I had thought of adding more details about his time hanging out, but think its better left unsaid. Just normal interactions among casual friends is nothing interesting to read about.**

 **Next up at last is the Quidditch camp and we finally get into the core of this story.**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not myself (which as I am posting under a fanfiction site should be obvious)**

 **Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews! We are finally starting to get to the Quidditch! This chapter is full of dialog explaining the League and how it works and I hope I have found a way to make the seeker and the snitch less ridiculous, ie the 150 points being way too much to make any of the other positions relevant. Let me know what you all think. We also get through camp this chapter, I hope none of you are disappointed by how quickly it goes but Harry really has many advantages over his competitors (his training and his skill level being very high for a rookie) and it shows.**

 **Enjoy :]  
**

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It was the Sunday before camp and Harry was having dinner with his agent at her office and going over their plans for the week as well as the state of the teams in the British Quidditch League.

"Ok Harry, everything I have heard from your coaches says you are in really good shape, and that your skill level is very high for a rookie. You need more experience but everything seems to point to you being at the top of the class for seekers this year. On top of your skill level and youth which make you incredibly desirable, there is a rather weak class of free agent seekers this year. With Krum resigning with the Vultures none of the top tier of veteran seekers are available, and the few free agents there are either near the end of their careers or are journeymen who bounce around teams looking to plug up the hole in their roster. With all that said, I expect a good camp from you to lead to a record breaking rookie contract. Already the press is reporting sky high demand for your skills, so we should go over my expectations for the next week" Queenie Greengrass said to the young seeker.

"Let's start with an overview of how the signing process will work. After Camp teams will approach us with rookie contracts usually with 2-3 years length and various incentives for playing time and endorsement deals. For example I will be negotiating for a bonus for gaining a place on the National Team, as teams want players to get the notoriety that comes from playing in the world cup. It's good for their brand. For most players these contracts will be for the reserve team or for one of the major clubs semi-pro teams which play in one of the minor leagues in Britain. The reserve team practices with the main team and acts as backups in case of injury's to the main team. Teams often switch players between the main team and the reserve team to rest players and give experience to the younger players. Occasionally a team is weak in an area and finds a rookie who is better than their current starter and signs a rookie straight to the main team.

"For you I expect that you will be placed on a reserve team, possibly sharing time on the main team with their current seeker. If you play well you might start getting more time and maybe swap places to become the main starter. This is advantageous for everyone involved, as you will need to get used to the professional game, and they don't want to have to put their whole season on an untried rookie."

"Ok" Harry said between bites of his slice of Pizza, "that all sounds good. Obviously I still need experience playing at the speed and intensity the professionals do before being named a starter, and I don't have any problems with being a backup to a seasoned veteran for a season. What teams do you think will be interested? Like I've said before I wouldn't want to play on a team that wasn't committed to being the best, so I would prefer to be on a team that was full of talent over one that has a long way to go before they can compete for a title."

"Right good question Harry. We can start at the top of the league and work our way down. The Tutshill Tornadoes are the favorite to win the League this year. Their chaser line is extraordinary, headed by the duo of Moran and Troy who you probably know from the Irish National Team. Their seeker is their weakest link, but has enough skill in playing defensive seeker tactics to keep the other team from catching the snitch before their chasers can put the game away.

"Remember unlike tournaments like the World Cup or the Euro Cup, the British League Cup goes to the team at the top of the table, which counts overall points. A seekers job isn't only to catch the snitch, but to be able to hold off on catching in until the situation favors your team. The team that wins the League is the one that scores the most in goal differential, meaning the team that scores the most in comparison to their opponents, with loses counting as negatives. So if you beat the Cannons by 100 but lose to the Bats by 20 your point total would be 80. Since every team plays every other team twice, once at home and once away this makes it a fair accounting of which team is the best." Seeing Harry nodding along she continued, "This makes it the seekers job to understand when to catch the snitch, as if the seeker thinks the team will continue to raise the goal differential it might be best to hold off and block the opponent from ending the game, while the losing seeker would want to catch it as quickly as possible to minimize the difference in score or if they think they can mount a comeback, prevent the opponent from ending the game. This is why some games take so long, as teams seek to try to overload the table against bad opponents. In the end even the worst teams are still good enough to keep the system fair, and since every team plays the others an equal amount every team has the opportunity to run up the score against bad ones.

"Anyway, since the Tornadoes already have a pretty good defensive oriented seeker and are the favorites it's unlikely they will rock the boat by signing a rookie seeker. They would rather spend the money on a veteran backup that they know will be able to hold off opponents if needed. Next up would be the Harpies, but as you don't meet their criteria we can skip them, just know that they also have strong chasers and a superb beater in Hopkins. Likewise the Wasps have a great defense, with the best keeper in the league in Rodgers. They might be interested in a new reserve seeker. Their current starter is under contract for another 2 years, and is frankly being overpaid, but has been solid for them. Their reserve seeker is another veteran journeyman, but is talented enough to get by. They might be willing to take the risk on you, hoping you could outplay one of their current seekers and push them up the table. From what I hear however, they are a little short on cash so they may not be able to afford to compete for you with the rest of the league and still address their issues with their chaser line. The starters are fine, but they really need another reserve chaser to bolster their attack.

"The Magpies won't be interested I'm afraid, they have the best seeker in Britain already in Campbell, although he is starting to get up there in years. Their reserve seeker in just in her second season and played pretty well last year so I can't see them moving on from her right now. Next comes the teams that I expect will show the most interest and that we will be focusing our interest on. The Catapults, Puddlemere United, Falcons, Arrows and Bats all are on the market for a seeker and are expected to be in the middle of the pack next year on the table. Both Puddlemere and the Falcons are flush with funds after losing their starting seekers after last season. One to a surprise retirement and the other to a scandal involving performance enhancing potions. Puddlemere has a younger and more talented team, but also has a rather strong reserve seeker that's going into her third year and is seriously contending for the starting position. While the Falcon's reserve isn't as good he is under a long term contract and they might be unwilling to let him go in the future. Plus with the scandal it might not be a team you want to be associated with right now."

"Yeah I don't think I want to be on a team involved with that kind of scandal, it might taint my career and the last thing I need is for people to think I am on drugs," Harry replied. This had been a lot on information to take in at once. While coach Mostafa had taught him all about the role seekers played in the Quidditch League, it was interesting to hear from an agents prospective how seekers were classified by the style they played. He knew that he was an aggressive seeker that liked to play using feints to confuse his opponent and take the attention of the beaters interest to disrupt the game when he could.

"Yes I quite agree," his agent replied. "The most likely candidates for you will be the Arrows, Bats and Catapults. The rest of the league either won't be able to match the offers those three will offer, have long term contracts with starting caliber seekers or don't have enough other talent to interest you. I think your best match is the Bats. They have a very young team, with all of their starters under the age of 25, the eldest of which is their keeper who is in his 5th year as a professional. Their strength is at the beater position, and they have a very good offensive oriented chaser in Bole, but he is a little reckless with the Quaffle. Their seeker is the 24 year old Rodrigues from Brazil, who plays similar to you in that he plays fast and aggressive. This is the last year of his contract however and rumor has it he is being heavily pursued by a team in North America. Their reserve seeker is weak and I could easily see them letting her go to see if you can be the starter of the future. They have a lot of money tied up already, but they should be able to make a run at you. They are maybe a year or so away from being a major contender, but with their main talent being so young they are definitely a team to watch out for.

"The Arrows are a little more seasoned, their seeker in particular is rather well known Aidan Lynch who played seeker for the Irish National Team. He is very talented and you could learn a lot from him. The downside is he just got a contract extension, but there is an opportunity here for you to learn from a seasoned veteran and play on a very good team as their reserve for a few years and then come out in two years as the most wanted free agent. Since you are so young I think we would be able to get you an incredible contract with practically any team at that point. The opportunity to learn under Lynch will have to be weighed against the opportunity other teams will present with more playing time.

"Like the Bats, the Catapults have a starting seeker with only a year on contract, and it looks like Ivanov will be retiring after this year. This is a more offensive oriented team that might appreciate a seeker with your aggression more than others. An excellent chaser line led by Rosenburg and D'Aboville makes them a serious contender for the next few years. Their coach, Bolliger, is also someone worth taking into consideration, as he is well known for his unconventional use of seekers. That might be something that interests you, as he will likely be more willing to give a rookie more chances to start if you are willing to give his ideas a shot."

The two talked about the rest of the teams in the league and about how the camp was set up. The camp would take place over a five day period, with the first two days being various drills and tests for the players testing their speed and maneuverability as well as their coordination. The next two days would consist of practice games and tests of endurance, and the last day the players would be available to scouts for individual drills and to answer questions. Every player would be riding the Nimbus 2002, the newest broom from the British company, in order to allow scouts to make reasonable comparisons between players and to make it fair. The brooms were not set to be released to the public until the end of the month so none of the player would have ever flown on one before. Harry just hoped it was similar to his first broom, the Nimbus 2000 which was destroyed during his third year.

* * *

The camp pitch was set up like no Quidditch pitch Harry had ever seen before. The players had been given their brooms and separated by position in preparation for the first drill. The pitch had only one stand set in the middle of the pitch for spectators, which was filled with members of the press and over three dozen scouts from the 20 teams in the British League and a few representing other leagues. The first set of drills was rather simple, all the players in each position had to fly in formation around the pitch, both to get used to the new brooms and to show off their speed and ability to fly to the scouts. There were 6 seekers attending camp, including Harry, most of which had attended another school in Britain or were currently on semiprofessional teams and wanted to try and make it into the big leagues. While Harry was the youngest, it quickly became obvious to everyone watching that he was far more talented than his competition. Harry was able to make the turns quicker and with more grace than any of his peers, in addition to being able to coerce every bit of speed out of his broom.

This was no surprise to any of the scouts, as Harry was the only seeker at the camp that they had predicted to earn a professional contract. Harry continued to excel throughout the rest of the drills, showing off his maneuverability as well as his ability to dodge to the scouts. He blew through the drills with ease, and had no problems in crushing his opponents when the time came for practice games. His time preparing all of July had served him well, as Harry knew his endurance would have made the constant drilling and practicing difficult before this summer. Despite being far better than his opponents however, both Harry and his agent were worried that the poor quality of his opposition would reflect poorly on his own assessment. After all it wasn't very impressive that Harry was easily beating a group of seekers who would almost certainly never play professionally. On the other hand, since none of the other seekers were any good that made Harry very desirable as the only rookie seeker available, they would just have to wait and see what teams would be willing to take the risk on a talented rookie with a lot of potential over a veteran who they would already know was able to play Quidditch at the level played in the professional leagues.

It was the last day of camp, and Harry was nervous about talking to the scouts directly. He knew he had done the best that could be accomplished against his quality of opponents; he had caught every snitch and had easily been able to dominate any drill they had been put through. The previous day he had even flown with the chasers to show off his skill as a defensive player, and while he was certainly not the best among the chasers he thought he had performed well enough to impress some of the scouts. He had been able to break up a number of plays from the best chasers at the camp and had even been a part of a scoring play for his own team, where he had blocked the vision of the opposing keeper allowing his own team to easily score.

Each team that had sent scouts to the camp had set up a tent where they would meet players and their agents to answer questions and discuss the possibility of the player joining their team. The scouts had kept track of the players they were interested in, and the previous day had submitted a request to meet with those players for a short period of time. Harry had been requested by the majority of the teams, with only the Harpies and Magpies passing, as was expected given their lack of funds and interest in a rookie seeker.

Since Harry had so many requests for a meeting, the League had offered him the use of one of their time turners in order to be able to talk to all the teams that were interested. Of the teams that Harry met with only a few really stood out; the majority only seemed to be meeting him as a formality as they either didn't have the funds or position open for him, or like the Cannons didn't interest Harry.

The first team to really stand out to Harry was the Catapults, who had brought their star starting seeker in to talk to Harry. This impressed him, as it showed the level of their interest in him as a seeker as well as giving him the opportunity to be recruited by a member of their team. The two seekers had discussed their love of the sport and their position, as well as what to expect as a rookie seeker. The scouts had been pleased with Harry's stated desire to join a team that would be competitive, and had ensured him that the goal of their club was first and foremost to win the League Cup. Ivanov had been friendly to Harry, but despite his age, Harry guessed he was in his early-thirties, was very committed to continuing to play at the professional level and win a title. Harry was more than willing to be a on the reserve team for a year, but expected to become the starter in the near future and wanted teams to understand his expectations both for himself and his future team. After receiving assurances from the scouts that their team operated on merit, meaning if he was the best seeker he would be the starter, the meeting came to a close with both sides expressing interest in coming to an agreement in the future.

Like the Catapults, the Arrows also brought their star seeker, Lynch, with them to their meeting with Harry. Unlike Ivanov however, Lynch didn't seem interested in discussing much with Harry, and left quickly after introductions and exchanging some small talk. Despite this, Harry came away from that meeting expecting to get an offer from the Arrows and seriously thinking about the possibility of playing with the World Cup winner and learning from him. While he might have lost against Krum, his play throughout the rest of the tournament was excellent and he had consistently been among the top seekers in the British League for a number of years.

Unlike the Catapults and the Arrows, the Bats impressed Harry by bringing their coach Adrian MacAteer to talk about how he would fit into their scheme for the current season. Coach MacAteer seemed excited about the possibility of having a new young seeker to coach up and had told Harry that he would make sure he received a good deal of playing time. Their team was being built to be a dynasty soon, and they expected noting but the best from all their players. With their youth, the team's goal was to lock in their players for as long as they could and become a dominant force in the league by building team chemistry and cooperation. This methodology interested Harry, as one of the reasons he felt his Hogwarts team had been successful was the level of comradery between players and their superior team work due to years of familiarity.

The last team to really interest Harry was to his surprise one of the few present at the camp from outside of the British League. The Finchburg Finches, a team from the American state of Massachusetts, had been impressed with Harry's play and wanted to discuss with his the possibility of joining their team. They espoused the benefits of playing for a team like the Finches, mainly the possibility of playing and learning under the well-known seeker Maximus Brankovitch III the captain of the American National Team. Unlike the British teams, the Finches would better offer Harry a place away from his fame as the boy-who-lived, which the scouts quickly picked up on as something that was very interesting to Harry. While going into the meeting Harry had not expected himself to be really interested in what they had to offer, he had found himself thinking over the benefits of leaving Brittan and playing in America.

* * *

After a long day of time traveling and meeting with teams, Harry finally made his way back to his apartment to rest. This weekend he would have to make one of the biggest decisions of his life, as his Agent had told him offers should start coming in by tomorrow afternoon; it was up to her now to get Harry a favorable contract with one of the teams he was interested in. The deadline for rookie signings was a week from tomorrow, and Harry knew that by that deadline he would achieve his goal of being a professional Quidditch Player.

* * *

 **Thanks for Reading. What team do you think Harry will be most interested in? Find out where he signs next chapter!**

 **See you all soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

**This one was difficult for some reason. I struggled with some of the logistics but I think I got it down. This chapter and the next 2 will be kind of short, before we will finally get to Harry's debut. For the purpose of this story we will be going with the 1 Galleon = about 50 pounds. It's hard getting the numbers to make sense with the state of the Wizarding economy. Also in my headcanon there are a lot more magicals than Hogwarts would seem to hold, so let's say Hogwarts is the private, non-governmentally run school with a few ministry run ones around the country. So the population of Magical Britain would be about ¾ of a million. Just about 1% of the total population of the UK. This makes sense given the attendance of the World cup of 100000 and tickets being hard to get.**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not myself (which as I am posting under a fanfiction site should be obvious) Also Nike belongs to Nike, not me. I am not sure if I am allowed to use the name of a real company in my fic, but everything I read seems to indicate I could. If not I will change it to a made up name.**

* * *

It had been a couple of days since he had spoken with his agent and Harry was anxious about his future. All the optimism and confidence he had gained during the Quidditch camp had left him, as years of being told he was worthless by his relatives had ingrained in him feelings of inadequacy. His agent had told him that she would be talking to interested teams throughout the week, with the goal of collecting a few opening offers, before selecting a team to further negotiate terms with. Most of this, she had informed Harry, would be done behind the scenes without his direct input. Only when the two sides entered the final negotiations would Harry be brought in to talk to the team's ownership and management to discuss the future both sides envisioned as well as the role Harry would play.

Just this morning Harry had received a letter from his agent asking for a lunch meeting, to discuss the results of first round of negotiations and where they wanted to go from here. Nervous, Harry had shown up at the restaurant almost an hour early. Sitting at his table, nursing a rapidly cooling cup of tea, Harry was jolted out of his thoughts as someone sat down in the chair across from him.

"Hello Harry, how have you been? Have you been keeping up with all the rumors in the press I sent you?" Queenie Greengrass said to him with an amused smile on her face.

Harry returned her smile with a blush, just that morning he had seen an article in _The Quibbler_ that insisted he would be getting a sex change and joining the Harpies, which would incidentally be changing their name to the Snorckacks.

"I'll take that as a yes" She continued with a chuckle. "So let's get down to business. As we expected the Arrows, Bats and Catapults have been the most serious the teams interested in you. We previously decided to stick to the British League, but I think that we left the Finches with a favorable impression of you for any possible future opportunities. A few other teams submitted offers, but quickly dropped out of the running as they couldn't match the offers the others had given.

"The Arrows opening offer was a three year contract with a salary of 5000 Galleons, going up to 5500 your second year and 6000 the third. Only the first two years are guaranteed however, and you could leave without penalty after next year or demand a trade. As we had discussed, the Arrows already have a seeker under a long term contract in Lynch, so this is about what we expected. If we were to go into deeper negotiations I'd expect us to get a bit more galleons wise and a right of first refusal for trades. They seem to be looking at you to be their backup this year, with Lynch starting as many games as he could, and then depending on how skilled you prove to be dealing one of you to another team next year. It's a good opportunity to hone your skill and get a massive contract sooner rather than later.

"The Bats went all out on you, I think that they figured if they could tie you into a long term contract with the rest of their young talent they would have their roster set for a good half decade. They confirmed to me that they would expect you to be the starter as soon as next season, and have written into the contract that you would play at least 30% of the league games this year as well as a number of their friendly non-league games scheduled after the league season. Their offer was for 4 years, with 5500 Galleons this year and 6250 for the next two years, and 6500 for the fourth year, as well as a no trade clause. Money wise I don't think we would be able to negotiate much higher, they are very close to their limit already with the contracts they have. What we can do however is add bonuses for playing time and snitch catches. It's a record high for a rookie contract, and will by far give you the most playing time, but if you wow everyone as a starter like I think you will, you might wind up stuck in a contract for a few years getting underpaid.

"The Catapults also must have really liked you, and also offered a 4 year contract, although without any guaranteed playing time, with an average of 6000 Galleons a year. They have a bit more money than the other teams, so I would expect them to come up on their offer, but it doesn't look like they are willing to guarantee you a chance to start this year. They claim they always put the players on the field based on merit, so when you are the best seeker for that game then you will start. Which can mean more starts compared to the Bats or none at all, it depends on how you matchup against their opponents and the condition of their current seeker, Ivanov."

Excited by the confirmation that teams are very interested in signing him, Harry felt validated with his recent life choices. Even though he had been acting confident that he would be capable of playing professionally some small part of him had still be doubting his worth. Finally it was starting to look like he could move on from his past and start to build that confidence for real.

After much discussion between the two about the advantages of each offer, both financially and professionally, given his deep seated desire to not only play Quidditch, but to be the best, to _win,_ they narrowed it down to the Ballycastle Bats. Harry liked that the team was full of young players like himself, and saw the Bats as an opportunity to find a home. Much like his beloved Gryffindor team, he wanted his new team to become as close as a family, and saw the Bats as the best opportunity for that. It also didn't hurt that Coach MacAteer had promised him that he would get ample opportunities to start this year as a rookie. The money wasn't as important to him, he just wanted to play on the best team possible.

Pleased with their decision, his agent hurried off to convey their interest in the offer tended by the Bats, and try and squeeze a few concessions out of their management, telling Harry to expect a request for a meeting the next day to finalize the contract and prepare for the press release.

* * *

The next morning, dressed in his finest, and only, dress robes, Harry took the floo over to the Ballycastle Bats facility. After a month of using the floo Harry had finally figure out how to exit the fireplace without falling on his face. Looking around as he followed his agent to the meeting with the team's management Harry was impressed with what he could see of the facility.

The hallway he was walking in had large windows overlooking the Quidditch practice field and outdoor track. Past the field he could see the gorgeous blue of the Ocean for the first time in his life, besides that awful time on the island where he first met Hagrid. Looking out at the vivid green grass and the crashing waves beyond, Harry was enthralled by the beauty of area.

Entering the office at the end of the hall, Harry saw three men waiting for him. One, a tall muscular man with straight black hair he recognized as his new coach, Adrian MacAteer, who he had read in Quidditch Weekly was a beater when he was younger and worked opposite from Ludo Bagman for the Wasps. The second man was a chubby blond, wearing a well-tailored suit and holding a brown leather briefcase. The last however was the most striking of the three, a tall skinny redheaded older man, who had a big grin on his face. It was this man that first greeted Harry as he entered the room.

"Hello Harry, and welcome to Ballycastle! Please make yourself comfortable, today is an exciting day for all of us. My name is Ansgar Flaherty and I am the owner of the Bats. Let me be the first to tell you that we are thrilled to have you join the Bat Colony!"

"Thank you Sir," Harry replied after shaking Mr. Flaherty's hand, "I'm thankful for the opportunity to play here in Ballycastle."

"Excellent, well let's get everything signed and official so I can give you a tour of our facilities. I think we have some of the best staff and stadium around and I think you will be very happy here Harry."

The final contract Harry's agent had negotiated was a four year deal, with an average of 6300 Galleons per year, and a minimum 30% of the playing time as a starting Seeker for his rookie season. In addition to his salary Harry was offered bonuses built into his contract for accomplishments in the league, like playing for the national team as well as for his performance. This would be a record breaking rookie contract, even breaking Victor Krum's first contract with the Vultures.

The Bats on the other hand got control over the Broom Harry would fly, as they were sponsored by the Nimbus Broom Company, which was based in Edinburgh. The next demand of the Bats was a surprise to Harry, apparently the owners of the League, like Mr. Flaherty, had been in talks with the American sports apparel company Nike, who recently started making kits for muggle football in England and wanted to open a magical section for their company.

Nike wanted to gain exclusive rights to provide the Bats and other British Quidditch League teams with their kits, and were looking for spokesmen to represent their brand in the magical sports world. Harry, as a muggle raised player and already significant worldwide fame, fit what they were looking for and they had asked for the owners of whatever team Harry signed with to push for Harry to meet with their representative. He wouldn't be required to make a deal, but his contract stressed that a sponsorship from Nike would be very mutually beneficial, and that the team would be willing to forgo its cut in any sponsorship money Harry made if it was with Nike.

The last stipulation for Harry in his contract was that he would always meet with Irish companies before signing any sponsorship deals and that he would allow the Bats the use of his image in their own promotional material. Any details would be worked out between Harry's agent and the PR department for the Bats. After a year of struggling with the press surrounding the Triwizard Tournament Harry was glad to have so many professionals on his side to manage that aspect of his life.

After signing the contract and taking pictures for the public statement the Bats would be issuing about the signing, Harry was shown around the building and introduced to some of the staff. Coach MacAteer dragged Harry into his office to talk about his training schedule and to discuss the tactics he planned on using with Harry and the rest of the team.

"We have a young, athletic team Potter, and we are set up to take advantage of that. Our strength is in the defensive game, with a focus on aggressive beaters. This puts a lot of pressure on the seeker position, as we usually don't put up massive leads. We depend on our defense to keep the opponents scores down and aggressive fast break tactics from our chasers for scoring. A lot of teams in the league like to spread the Quaffle around the pitch, using high volume passing to open up lanes in the opposing defense to take shots. This provides them with a time of possession advantage over our tactic of crashing the hoops with players looking for screens to block out the keeper and a focus on speed over creating open shots through complex passing patterns. We want to overwhelm our opponent with an all-out attack. I've watched memories of some of your Hogwarts games, and you seem to prefer aggressive flying techniques, playing one on one with the opposing seeker. This fits what we want to do in our game plan. Our beaters will focus on defense and protecting the chasers, leaving you to take on the seeker alone.

"What we will be working on with you is with assisting the chasers. We need you to be able to disrupt passing lanes in our own half of the field and screen the keeper when we are offensive, while still maintaining your searching pattern. This is usually the hardest part for new seekers, as you lot tend to focus on the snitch to the detriment of anything else. Catching the snitch is the most important part of your game, but that doesn't mean you get a pass on all other responsibilities.

"You have a small frame, so we need to focus on your strength, which is speed and maneuverability. I want you to continue you weight training and work on bulking up a bit, but what you need most is practice working with chasers. You got all that Potter!"

"Yes Coach!" Harry responded. He had heard similar ideas from Wood and knew from reading Quidditch Weekly that the Bats used these tactics last year as well. His focus in training over the last month had been on building strength and his defensive skills, and he was looking forward to working with his new team.

Good! So let's go through our schedule. As you know the season is made of 38 games, starting on September 2nd and ending in June. We have about one game per week, on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday and practices during the week. You will be playing in at least 11 games this year, more if you play well. You probably won't get your first start until October at the earliest. You need to get used to the team before you are even close to ready. The way it works with students is that you will sleep at Hogwarts and floo here in the morning. The team will provide meals and you will practice from 8 – 3, then attend meetings with the coaching staff and our trainers for another hour or so. You will then either take a nap for a few hours or take a pepper up potion for energy and floo over to the Quidditch League HQ to use their time turner and return to Hogwarts for classes.

"For the rest of the summer you are going to be practicing every day! I want you here at 7 sharp in the morning, where you will work with our trainers. Our first team practice is next week, so I expect you to learn as much as you can with the one on one environment while you still can. Welcome to Professional Quidditch Potter."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not myself (which as I am posting under a fanfiction site should be obvious).**

* * *

 _Quidditch Weekly_

 _Harry Potter signs with Ballycastle!_

 _The Ballycastle Bats have announced their newest signing, Britain's own Harry Potter. For those who are unaware Harry Potter played Seeker for the Gryffindor house team while attending Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he became the youngest Seeker to play on a house team since Sylvia Miller played for Hufflepuff in 1887 after the previous seeker was attacked by a heard of Thestrals during a match. Potter impressed many scouts at Hogwarts and was considered by this publication to be the best Seeker at this year's Quidditch Camp, hosted by the British Quidditch League. Potter's contract with the Irish club is rumored to be record setting for a rookie, and rumors about Bat's Seeker Juan Rodrigues' imminent departure to the South American League seem to be confirmed. Potter is just the latest of a series of moves by the Bats, who will enter this season the youngest team in the league, with an average age under 23. (see page 3 for more on the youth movement in Ballycastle)_

 _The Bats released this message as a part of their announcement on Monday. "The Ballycastle Bats are pleased to welcome promising Seeker Harry Potter into our family. Our goal as an organization has always been to bring the title to our fans here in Ballycastle and around the world, and this is just the latest move in our efforts to do so. Mr. Potter impressed our coaches during his play at Hogwarts and will be a valuable part of our team for years to come."_

 _Potter also released a statement through his agent, Queenie Greengrass of the firm Greengrass & Davis. "I would like to thank the Ballycastle Bats organization for the opportunity and for their warm welcome to the team; I look forward to wearing the Black and Scarlet for years to come. To the fans I want to reaffirm the team's goal of bringing a championship to Ballycastle, nothing is more important to me than being the best Seeker and teammate possible and winning the British Quidditch League. The Bats have a long history of excellence, and I am honored to be a part of their prestigious history."_

 _For more on how Potter's signing affects the odds in this year's British Quidditch League see page 2. I_

* * *

Exiting the locker room, dressed for the first time in the Bat's kit: black robes with crimson seams on the sleeves and a crimson bat logo on his chest and back, and with his new Nimbus 2002 in his hand, Harry made his way to the practice pitch. It had been a week since he had signed with the Bats and it was finally time to meet his new teammates.

He had arrived early, nervous about his first team practice and hoping to let off some of his anxiety by getting in some flight time on his new broom before anyone else was on the pitch. During the last week Harry had become used to his new broom and had quickly fallen in love with it. He had used the new Nimbus at the camp of course, but he hadn't had much time to really enjoy flying it. While he still loved his Firebolt that Sirius had gotten him for Christmas during his third year, the Nimbus 2002 could easily keep pace with it, and the Nimbus' turning capabilities were incredible. While he still thought the Firebolt might have a bit more speed and acceleration capabilities, his new broom was far more maneuverable, which he had found particularly useful for an agile seeker like him.

After a half hour of warming up and riding his broom around the pitch, Harry noticed his teammates exiting the locker room to join him for the days practice. In addition to working with his new team's coaches and learning some of their preferred tactics over the last week, much of his time had been spent in learning about his new teammates and the styles and positions they played.

Leading the group of veterans was the team captain, Keeper Priyanka Malhotra, entering her fifth year with the Bats since being signed as a 19 year old from a second tier Indian Quidditch League team where she had surprised scouts with her superb athleticism and strong arm capable of passing a Quaffle to a Chaser halfway across a pitch with ease. The second string Keeper, Slyvester Solarian trailed behind the captain, talking to the second string Chasers, Helga Smith and Prince Parker. The three starting Chasers, Hengist Diggle, Raven Ivanoff and the leader of the line Brian Bole, were already tossing a Quaffle around, playing a game of keep it up by rapidly passing the ball to an unsuspecting target. The last group of players was comprised of the Beaters, Leroy Petit, Jessica Miller and Min Chang, and the starting Seeker, Juan Rodrigues.

"Ah there he is, the man of the hour!" The captain said with a smile upon seeing Harry. "Alright gather round you lot, it's time for introductions to our newest teammate."

Landing over by the group of players, Harry saw curiosity in the eyes of most of his new teammates. The exceptions were Bole who looked unimpressed and somewhat annoyed by his presence and Rodrigues who seemed thrilled to have another Seeker on the team.

It was Rodrigues who approached Harry first holding out his hand in greeting.

"Welcome to the Bats Potter! I've heard good things about your Seeking skills and look forward to working with you. Last year our other Seeker was not the greatest, so I wound up having to play almost every game, hopefully this year we will both be able to play and get the rest we need."

The rest of the team welcomed Harry to the team and then formed a circle around their captain.

"So last year we did not meet our goals," Malhotra started her speech. "Obviously our goal every year is to be at the top of the table at the end of the season. Last year we finished 9th. That is not the kind of Quidditch the Bats fans want to see, our fans expect excellence on all parts of the pitch every game. Individual successes are to be celebrated, but we live and die as a team. This year I want to see improvement from each and every one of you. Potter, you are new here and new to the league but don't think that we will give you any slack. The coaches plan to have you play at least 15 games this year, and expectations for you are sky high. Don't squander that opportunity and the trust this organization has placed in you.

"Rodrigues, your play last year was at a high level. Hopefully with a better rotation this year you will be even better. We've talked about you working with Potter to get him up to speed, so for the next few weeks he is all yours.

"Chasers, last year was a massive improvement for us. Bole had an outstanding year, but let's not take anything for granted this season. Diggle, Ivanoff, Smith and Parker I want to see you take advantage of the opportunities that defenses give you by focusing on Bole. We may be a defensive oriented team, and on that note, Diggle and Ivanoff had an excellent year, but there is room for improvement on offense.

"Beaters you are in many ways the strength of this team. All three of you had a spectacular year, and I know how hard you have been working this summer to maintain that excellence. I expect nothing but the best from all of you.

"As for us Keepers, we are going to need to work on our communication with the other players and with our understanding of tactics when facing teams that crash the hoops. That was a major weakness of ours last year and cost us games against the Harpies and the Arrows.

"This year I want to see this team crack the top 5 and qualify for the Euro League. I want to see our defense be among the best in the league and I want to see us build towards a championship in the future."

The team split off into groups for each position, with Rodrigues dragging Harry over to the center of the pitch.

"Ok Potter, let's get started. For today we are going to try and get you used to the speed and nature of the game. The best way to train for us Seekers is to chase a snitch against an opponent, so that is what we are going to do." Rodrigues grinned at Harry and took a golden snitch out of his robes, which speed away from the two seekers the instant it was released. "Loser buys the other dinner," Rodrigues said with a smirk, before shooting off on his own Nimbus 2002.

With a wild grin of his own, Harry shot after him, doing his best to stay on Rodrigues' tail. His new coaches had been tutoring him on the various common tactics that they wanted him to use in certain situations, and this was his first opportunity to put some of that into practice. Harry's small stature made him faster than many of the Seekers around the league, and this situation, being behind the opposing Seeker in the chase for the snitch, called for the Seeker to try and closely tail behind his opponent, conserving his energy by staying in his tailwind, binding time in order to jump in front of him when the snitch was within striking distance or to block his Opponent from successfully finding the snitch.

Of course given his experience, Rodrigues was well aware of this tactic, and quickly began corkscrewing and making sharp turns, attempting to gain distance away from Harry. The two fliers zipped around the pitch at a breakneck pace, winding in and out of the goal posts only to dive down and skim the grass before soaring into the clouds high above the stadium. For an hour the two kept up this frantic pace, meandering around the pitch, twisting and turning like a dogfight between ace pilots.

Sweat pouring down his face from the incredibly exertion that maintaining such a rapid pace took on his body, Harry knew that he still had a ways to go before his endurance could match his teammates. He was in a war of attrition with Rodrigues and he was steadily losing ground. His only hope was to change tactics and try a feint, trying to get his opponent to give him an opening to have a clear path to search for and catch the snitch.

The two seekers had lost sight of the snitch during their marathon flight around the pitch, and Rodrigues had spent the last few minutes just trying to lose Harry and gain some distance between them in order to find the snitch himself. Just as the two seekers reached the top of a loop high above the hoops, Harry suddenly peeled off, diving straight down towards the scoring area in front of the second hoop.

Hot on his heels, Rodrigues followed Harry in his dive, slowly gaining on Harry as his greater mass allowed him to pick up speed just a bit quicker. Just as he was about to hit the ground, Harry pulled up and rolled away, shooting up and away towards the central circle in the middle of the pitch.

Despite Harry's best efforts, Rodrigues was easily able to pull out of his dive as well, electing to fall into a figure eight searching pattern, circling the pitch looking for the elusive golden ball.

This was the kind of tactical play that characterized how seekers practiced their art. Moves and countermoves, each designed to try and gain even the smallest advantage over their opponent. Unlike the other positions, Seekers were very much in a solitary battle for control over the sky. Like a chess match, every move was made with the next in mind, willing to make sacrifices and take risks if necessary to try and deceive their opponent into making a big mistake.

In the end, Rodrigues experience trumped Harry's immense skill. Just as Harry had turned his head to look towards the away team's side of the pitch, Rodrigues took off towards the snitch he had spotted minutes before. This split second advantage gained as Harry was facing the other direction, before he noticed Rodrigues' dive and caught sight of the snitch was more than enough to allow Rodrigues to catch the snitch.

Despite his understanding that he was not yet at the same level as his teammate, Harry was angry with himself over his loss. It was the first time he had failed to catch a snitch when facing another Seeker, baring extenuating circumstances like the Dementor attack in his third year match against Hufflepuff.

"Not bad Potter," Rodrigues said. "You surprised me with that feint, a bit more work on selling it and you might have had me. You pulled up just a bit too early, and you didn't do enough to block my view from seeing if there was a snitch in front of you. Besides that, you kept up with me for most of the time we flew and showed a good mind for the game. Endurance is still an issue, and you got yourself into a tight situation by sticking to the center of the pitch. It was a conservative tactic that might work for some Seekers, but doesn't fit your aggressive style. Good work! Let's hit the showers and then you can buy me my dinner," he continued with a wide smile. "Have you had the chance to check out the city yet? Meet some of our fans? I know a great pub."

* * *

Somehow between the team's showers and the pub, buying Rodrigues dinner for beating him to the snitch turned into the rookie buying dinner for the team. While Ballycastle wasn't an all magical village like Hogsmead, it did have the largest community of magicals in Ireland. The team wound up in a pub on the magical side of town called _Barney's Cave_ , a popular pub for supporters of the team located not far from the stadium.

"So Rodrigues," Bole drawled, shooting a smug look at Harry, "how did the kid do for his first practice?"

"He did well Bole, much better than _your_ first practice," responded the veteran Seeker. With a thoughtful tilt of his head, he continued, "if I remember correctly didn't you fall off your broom during your first practice? He's got a lot of growing to do of course, but our rookie managed to keep up with me for most of the practice. I can't wait to see how good he will be once he has more experience and improves some of his fundamentals."

"Enough bickering boys," Malhotra chided. "This is an opportunity to get to know our new Seeker a bit better."

"I have a question actually," said the third Beater Min Chang, who Harry realized looked a good deal like his secret crush Cho Chang. "The papers have been all over the place about you over the last year. First you were the bad boy who snuck into that Triwizard tournament for the glory, then you were in a weird love triangle with Victor Krum and some plain muggleborn of all people. _Then,_ " Chang stressed, "you were announced as the winner of the tournament, the press is suddenly singing your praises and rumor has it that you are going to be awarded an order of merlin for assistance to the safety of the Magical World and services rendered to Wizarding Britain. At the same time my cousin's boyfriend is mysteriously murdered during the third task and all anyone knows is that the whole thing has been declared unutterable by the British Unspeakables and by order of the ICW.

"Now I get that you can't talk about anything that was classified, Merlin knows I don't want the Unspeakables to come down on my head, but is there any chance you could talk to my cousin when you are back at Hogwarts? She's been inconsolable with grief all summer, she blames herself for his death since one of the reasons Cedric entered that stupid tournament was to try and impress her."

While annoyed by her jab at Hermione, Harry's sense of Gryffindor chivalry was stirred by Cho's plight. He had struggled with no small amount of guilt himself throughout the summer, and had been besieged with nightmares of a cold cruel voice ordering Wormtail to "kill the spare" and what might have happened if he had not overpowered the weak willed man. He hadn't even considered what Cedric's loved ones might be going through in their own grief over the loss of his fellow champion.

"I'll see what I can do," Harry promised. "There's a lot I can't talk about, but I will talk to her about what I can."

The rest of the team watched on, wide eyed by the turn the conversation had took. The rest of the meal was spent in a somewhat awkward atmosphere, each member deep in thought about their new mysterious teammate.

* * *

"Hear ye! Hear ye! The Trial of one Sirius Orion Black, on the 22nd of August 1995, for the crimes of the Murder of the wizard Peter Pettigrew, 12 counts of the Murder of a Muggle and for the breach of the International Statue of Secrecy Statue of Secrecy on November the 1st in the year 1981. Presiding is Judge Richard Abbot, Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister; Unspeakable number one, the Wizengamot's liaison to the Department of Mysteries. Court Scribe Percy Ignatius Weasley.

"Defending Mr. Black is Barrister Tonks, witnesses for the Defense: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of this Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin First class; Unspeakable number two, Mr. Black's voice on events covered by the National Secrecy Acts, appointed liaison to the Department of Mysteries; Harry James Potter, heir to the Noble House of Potter, Order of Merlin First Class to be appointed at a later date."

Harry's Godfather, Sirius Black, sat in a chair in front of the Wizengamot, tied in chains. He had turned himself in to the DMLE just that morning for his trail and was holding out hope that he might finally be free. His godson sat on a bench off to the side of the room next to his favorite cousin's husband Ted Tonks and the courtroom was full of reporters and members of the public, who had been informed of the trail just the day before and had shown up in mass to see the notorious mass murderer's trial. The papers had been in a frenzy since it was announced he had never received a trial before being sent to Azkaban all those years ago, and the public was captivated by the possibilities his trial portrayed. Had an innocent man been sent to Azkaban? Was he the right hand to the Dark Lord as they had all been told or was there something more going on? The night the Dark Lord was defeated had already become legend, and the chance to gain insight on the events surrounding the tragedy of the Potter's deaths captured the public's eye like nothing else ever could.

Before the Investigators for the ministry could get started, to the surprise of everyone, Unspeakable number two stood up and approached the bench.

"The Department of Mysteries absolves Mr. Black of the murder of Peter Pettigrew. During events that have been deemed Unutterable, Mr. Pettigrew was bound into our care and has since been executed under the aegis of the ICW and The Department of Mysteries for crimes under our jurisdiction. We cannot speak of the other crimes charged to Mr. Black, as they fall outside of our jurisdiction." With that said the Unspeakable gave a nod to his colleague acting as investigator and walked out of the courtroom, pausing only briefly to give another nod to Harry Potter.

Stunned by the revelations from the Unspeakable, Minister Fudge sputtered, "V-Very well, Scribe Note that the charges for the murder of Peter Pettigrew have been dropped."

With the main charge dropped and suspicious cast by the Unspeakables on the validity of the rest of the charges, along with the high esteem most Wizards and Witches held both Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter in, the case went quickly from there and Sirius was cleared of all charges, and remanded to St. Mungos for medical treatment. Harry Potter returned to his apartment that night with a wide smile on his face. His godfather was free. His Quidditch career was blooming and best of all there was no Dark Lord trying to kill him.

* * *

 **In my mind chief warlock is much like the position of Speaker of the Hous** **e in the USA. The head of the majority party in the legislative branch. His judicial powers are the same as any member, he can vote guilty or not during trials. My thoughts on this are, yes anyone could plausibly become a legislator due to fame and a good campaign and seats in the Wizengamot are in my head canon mostly hereditary with a mix of a few elected seats, so it's not like everyone has to be a seasoned politician to be a sitting member. However, being a judge on the other hand, is much more of a specialized profession, needing a degree in law and practice in that field. Dumbledore could presumably be elected to, inherit or be granted a seat in the legislative body, but to be a judge, as many have thought the Chief Warlock title denoted sounds unlikely. Although the weird crossover of being a member of the legislative branch and also effectively serving as the jury during trials is an odd one. On the Potter's being nobility, I think that would just mean that they have a hereditary seat on the Wizengamot. With their wealth, google harry potter wealth reddit for an interesting look at how wealthy Harry appears to be, and history, ie their relation to the creators of the Deathly Hallows, they would almost certainly have a seat on the body. If they didn't before this generation, I am sure someone looking for good press would have called for them to appoint the Potters a seat for Harry defeating Voldemort as a child, he did save their way of life after all.**

 **Next chapter, Hogwarts and the start of the Quidditch Season.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not myself (which as I am posting under a fanfiction site should be obvious).**

 **Sorry I have been away so long, not really any excuses, just lost interest for a bit. I walked the Camino de Santiago, which took up 6 weeks of my time and I just never got back to writing after I got home.**

* * *

For the first time in his time at Hogwarts, Harry was riding on the Hogwarts express without Ron Weasley. Even Hermione, who he had spent some more time with over the last few weeks of summer, was currently at the Prefects meeting at the head of the train. Instead, Harry found himself sitting with one of his fellow Gryffindor's, Neville Longbottom, and an odd blonde Ravenclaw named Luna Lovegood. Harry came to the conclusion that the girl was odd not because she was a Ravenclaw, though in his experience Ravenclaws could be rather odd at times, but because she was currently wearing the most ridiculous spectacles that he had ever seen and reading a newspaper upside down.

"So Neville, how was your summer?"

"It was pretty good Harry, My Great Uncle Algie got me a Mimbulus Mimbletonia! They are really rare. What about you though, I heard about your joining the Bats, congratulations. What's it like playing professionally?"

"It's been incredible," Harry said excitedly, with a wide smile on his face. "It's everything I had ever dreamed of it being. Intense as hell, everyone takes every practice so seriously. I've learned more about the game this summer than I ever imagined possible, I understand every position so much better than I did before. Everything is so much more complex, but somehow more fun than it's ever been."

"Wow." Neville said with eyes wide, "Do you know when you are going to get to play your first game? I read that the Bats are going to be playing their other Seeker tomorrow, are you going to go to the game anyway?"

"Yes it's going to be the first time I get to watch a British Quidditch League match so I am really looking forward to it. I'll have to go to every game just in case Rodrigues gets injured before the match or the coach wants to make an unexpected change at the last minute. They haven't announced it yet, but the marketing people for the Bats have already drawn up the advertisements so I think it's ok for me to tell you, I should be making my first start in three weeks against the Cannons at home."

The compartment door banged open and a grumpy Hermione sat down next to Harry with a huff.

"I can't believe they made that bigoted ferret a prefect! What were the professors thinking? That little cretin was calling for genocide against half the school when he was a second year! Hardly Prefect material," Hermione scoffed.

With a look over at Neville who looked amused by Hermione's little rant, Harry tried to calm down his longtime friend.

"Well Hermione it's not like there were many other options. Could you imagine Crabbe or Goyle as a Prefect?"

Snickering, Hermione shot Harry a grin, "True. I guess there is a reason that the Slytherin's are free to do whatever they want if their prefects are made up of the worst of the lot."

Their compartment door suddenly slammed open, revealing the Slytherin Prefects and pair of goons that they had just been discussing.

"How does it feel Potter to be second string to a Mudblood and a Weasley?" Malfoy drawled with a sneer on his face.

Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson all laughed like hyenas, as if that was the funniest thing they had ever heard.

With a roll of his eyes Harry responded to his longtime rival.

"You are joking right? With all the rules I've broken over the years I would make a horrible Prefect. I had no interest at all in the position. This year is going to be busy enough for me, especially with the exams coming up, without having extra duties keeping other students from breaking the rules and patrolling the castle at night. No offense Hermione, but that is far from my idea of a good time."

"None taken Harry," Hermione replied. "I know how busy you are going to be with Quidditch this year and keeping up with studying for our O.W.L.S. I think it's very mature of you to understand your priorities so early in the year."

Irritated by their blatant disregard for his insults, Malfoy changed tactics, "So I heard you signed with the Bats Potter, I guess no proper English Quidditch team wanted you so you had to slum it up in Ireland. My father always said the Irish had no taste."

Rolling his eyes like the teenager he was at his rival's petty need to insult him, Harry responded more casually than he would have in the past. Spending time away from his relatives and doing something he loved over the Summer had done wonders to his self-esteem, and he no longer felt the need to childishly respond to Malfoy's words. His agent had stressed the need to be polite and professional in public, as the press would jump at any hint of controversy to tear him down like they had last year during the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"The Bats organization impressed me with their methodology and their culture, while many Quidditch team offered me a position on their squads I decided that Ballycastle was the place for me. While Ballycastle is in Ireland, they do play in the British League as you probably know. As for my English pride, while the members for the upcoming national team have yet to be announced, I have it on good authority that I will be named. Thank you for your concern Mr. Malfoy, was there anything else you needed?"

Failing to get any reaction from Harry and Hermione, Malfoy left with a huff. Leaving the four chuckling at his lack of maturity.

The four student made small talk as the train continued on its way to Hogwarts, with only brief interruptions from the Gryffindor Quidditch Team who badgered Harry for details about his summer and from Cho Chang who he took to an empty compartment to console regarding Cedric. While many of the details about what happened at the end of the Third Task had been classified by the Unspeakables, he was able to tell her that Cedric had died quickly and without pain, and that his murderer was brought to justice.

It wasn't until they had arrived at Hogwarts that Harry realized that his former best friend Ron had not sought him out during the trip. While not too surprising, it still disappointed Harry. He remembered how long it took Ron to apologize for the whole goblet of fire fiasco last year, hopefully it wouldn't take a dragon to get him to apologize this time.

During the sorting Harry noticed that he attracted even more stares and attention then he had as a first year, and a surprisingly large number of his peers, and not just his fellow Gryffindors, were wearing badges denoting their support for the Ballycastle Bats. While a nice change of pace from the "Potter Stinks!" badges from last year, it annoyed him that so many people casually switched between loving him and hating him constantly. With his fame only growing due to his new career, he knew this was simply something he would have to learn to deal with.

* * *

The next morning Harry woke up early and used the outgoing floo set up in the Common Room fireplace, which while usually only used for emergencies, he had gotten permission to use it from the Headmaster, to head to Ballycastle for warm up before the opening game later that day. He may not have been playing that day, but he was still expected to warm up just in case there was an emergency or last minute change.

Dressed up in their black Bats away kits, Harry and Rodrigues went through their seeker warm ups together until Captain Malhotra called the team together for their pre-game meeting.

"Alright team," the 24yr old Captain said to the team gathered together in the team's conference room. We split the games against the Arrows last year, and in both games their chasers had a lead before the snitch was caught. We won the one game we did due to a superb catch by Rodrigues and some excellent Bludgers from Miller. We are going to switch up the game plan a bit today. Beaters, I want you to focus on interrupting their chaser line and opening up holes for our attack. We need to surprise them with some aggressive chasing and jump to an early lead, so Bole, Ivanoff and Diggle will need to press a bit farther forward than we usually do. It's a bit reckless defensively but I think it will catch them by surprise as we usually play the defensive game. Rodrigues, I know how hard it is to get one over on Lynch, but hopefully you can hold him off long enough for us to build a lead, if not catch the snitch as well."

Speech made, the team waited patiently for one of the team's assistants to tell them it was time to head to Appleby. The Locker rooms around the league stadiums and facilities were all connected by a private Floo Network, allowing teams to travel between their own locker rooms and wherever they were playing that day. When the time came and the team stepped through the Floo, Harry and the rest of the players not in the lineup for today made their way up the stairs in the stadium to the away team box from which they would watch the match alongside their coaches and the Team owner.

"Witches and Wizards of Appleby, welcome to the Opening match of the 1995-96 British Quidditch League season! Today our fearsome Arrows take on the Ballycastle Bats," yelled the announcer at the Appleby stadium.

Harry watched as the first Professional Quidditch match of his career got underway. It was a strange sensation to the young seeker, as he had never before had to sit and watch his team play while in the stands. He had been chosen as Gryffindor seeker as a first year, so had never had the opportunity to watch his house team play without him.

Throughout the match he kept close eyes on the Seekers, analyzing their every move. He saw as Rodrigues was caught in a trap set up by the opposing team's beaters, and was forced to maneuver away from a pair of Bludgers, leaving their opponent free to search for the snitch. The Bats beaters retaliated by opening up a path for Bole to score the team's first points of the season on an isolation strike on the far left hoop.

The match continued, with the two seekers becoming increasingly aggressive and physical in their interactions. Lynch had changed up his style since his loss to Krum in the World Cup the previous year, focusing more on working with his teammates to block the opposing seeker from being able to search for the snitch until his chasers had opened up a commanding lead. The Arrows beaters worked to keep the pressure on Rodrigues and on defending their chasers.

This worked in the favor of the Bats game plan, allowing their chasers the freedom to go head to head with their opposites. The Arrows had some of the most experienced chasers in the league and were among the favorites for the Cup this year. Despite their youth the Bats chasers were keeping pace and their beaters had made some openings for them to score and build a bit of a lead.

Twenty minutes into the game and the score was 30 to 10, with the Bats in the lead. Harry watched as his teammates switched to a more defensive strategy at a signal from their coach, allowing their opponents to become more aggressive and tire themselves out. Rodrigues joined the chasers in defending their hoops, flying in the passing lanes and making a general nuisance of himself.

Breaking into an attack on the far right hoop, Diggle intercepted a pass and broke away on the Arrows hoops. He faked a shot on the left hoop and just managed to squeeze it past the opposing keeper for a goal through the middle, bringing their score to 40.

Coach MacAteer leaned over to talk to Harry as play resumed after the goal.

"Keep a close eye on the Arrow's chaser play after that goal. We have caught them off guard so far this game, they expected us to try and extend the game through defensive play as we did last year. We started more aggressive and took a lead, but this defensive strategy is tough to maintain against such a high power offense like theirs."

HIs Coach's words proved prophetic as over the next hour the Arrow's chasers maintained an incredible quantity of passing and maneuvering, bringing the game to a tie. Doing so had obviously tired out the Arrows, while the intensive defensive play had been more forgiving on his Bat teammates. Coach MacAteer signaled a change to a more aggressive offense to take advantage of their opponents exhaustion.

To Harry this shift between tactics was a major change of pace from his games in Gryffindor where game strategies were decided beforehand and rarely were changed. With the increased aggression from the Bat's chasers, the Arrow's beaters were pulled off of attacking Rodrigues to try and hold off the attacks. Lynch showed why he was such a highly regarded seeker as he quickly changed his own tactics to focus on a figure 8 searching pattern high above. Apparently the Arrows coach had seen how the Bats had exhausted his chasers and wanted to draw attention towards Lynch to give them time to rest.

This tactic however failed, as the Bats continued their attack and allowed the two seekers the space needed to search for the snitch.

The Arrow's crowd grew excited as the seekers raced through their patterns, hoping to see Lynch end the game in their favor. Bole and Diggle both scored a goal, the strength of the Bat's beaters opening up holes in the Arrows chaser line.

"Lynch has seen the snitch!" Screamed the announcer, as the crowd rose to their feet and chanted their seeker's name.

Lynch and Rodrigues both rocketed towards the snitch, which was hanging out around the grass at the middle of the pitch. Lynch had the advantage as he had seen the snitch first, though Rodrigues was just a bit closer to the snitch when Lynch had spotted it. Both seekers dodged around bludgers hit towards them the instant the announcer had screamed out, while the Bats chasers used the opportunity to score a last second goal.

In the end Lynch had too much of an advantage in momentum for Rodrigues to catch him, with Lynch catching the Snitch a split second before Rodrigues could reach it.

"Lynch Catches the Snitch! Our Arrows win 190 to 70 to start the season!"

* * *

"Great work today all, I know it wasn't the result we were looking for, but that's how it works sometimes. Chasers, you all looked fantastic out there, 70 goals against a team like the arrows is fantastic and your defense held them off beautifully. Malhotra you looked solid today, make a note however that we need to work a bit more on your communication, I would like to see you take on a greater role in directing the chasers and beaters. Beaters, strong as always, but we really needed to be more aggressive when on the attack. We will work on timing your shots to better assist the chaser's attacks. Rodrigues, tough break out there. Lynch was just the better seeker today, and took advantage of a lucky situation with the snitch. Don't beat yourself up over it."

"Next game is next Saturday at home against the Falcons. Same team as today, I will go over the tactics for that game on Monday. Take tomorrow off to rest up and then I will see you all bright and early Monday."

* * *

 **So first Quidditch game down, after we get a few games into the season I will put a copy of the league table here at the bottom. Next chapter will hopefully include a bit of a time skip to Harry's first game at last after Harry's first week back at Hogwarts.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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